Correction: The original post had Kevin Lowe saying Murray was “the top player,” which is how I heard the tape of Lowe’s interview with Oilers now radio host Bob Stauffer.

But I am now persuaded that I was incorrect and that Lowe said Murray was “a top player.”

It’s not completely clear what Lowe said as the word is muffled, partly due to technological issues. Lowe was speaking over a phone from Finland. The sound quality of the recording isn’t perfect. I’ve sent Lowe an email to see if he’ll clarify.

All that said, I heard a tape of a radio interview, not the call from Finland itself. Stauffer heard that. His version of what Lowe said has to be considered more reliable than what any of us heard on the tape. Stauffer says he heard “a top player” and it certainly sounds like that could be the case when you listen to the tape.

My mistake.

Here’s the story ….

Oilers hockey president Kevin Lowe gave draft prospect Ryan Murray a rave review on Wednesday. In an interview with Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now, the money quote from Lowe was: “There’s no surprise why Central Scouting has him rated second. He’s a top player. And often with the top players, or occasionally with the top players, they’re not ready to play in the National Hockey league, but I don’t question his readiness for next year.”

Lowe, who is running Team Canada in Finland, praised Murray for the way the 18-year-old has handled practicing and playing on Canada’s big team. Murray came as an extra body for practice, but has filled in a few times because of injury.

“He’s played remarkably well for a young fellow and I’ve talked to the other GMs and scouts that are here and they all agree that he’s going to play in the National Hockey League next year, no question. He’s held his own”

Murray has played more than expected in games. “It certainly wasn’t the intention when we asked him to go over to Switzerland and round out our roster until we had it completely full for the tournament. … After he played so well in Switzerland, he wanted to come and join us and we were happy to have an extra body around in the event there were injuries, and, of course, lo and behold, the injuries came, so he was able to slide in”

In terms of his on-ice ability what has impressed the most, Stauffer asked?

“His poise. There’s actually a whole checklist of things. His skating. The way he defends, passes the puck, but just overall the poise. You have to understand this is, next to the Stanley Cup playoffs, this is the highest level of hockey you can play in the world. And these are men that have been training, in some cases the Swiss team, those guys play 40, 50 games together in the season for the national team preparing for this. These are guys that are darn good hockey players. A lot of them could play in the NHL. They have seven, eight, ten years on him in terms of maturity and strength and yet he doesn’t look out of place at all. There has been the occasion where he has gone back under pressure you kind of wonder, how is he going to handle this? And shift after shift he handles it with poise. That to me is just really remarkable.”

Fascinating interview, and sure to add fuel to what is going to be the single most heated debate over what player the Oilers should take with the first overall selection.

Things were hot as the Oilers decided between Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall in 2010, and between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Larsson last season, but I fully expect a whole new level of anxiety and teeth-gnashing over what the Oilers will do this year.

The consensus of scouts is that the best player in the draft is Nail Yakupov, the young Russian sniper, who has a ton going for him, but a few negatives: he was hurt part of the year; he’s a small forward and the Oilers have plenty of those; he’s not a d-man, and that’s more of an area of need; he’s a Russian, and teams might be wary of drafting a Russian star who might be more inclined to play in the KHL and would also be more in demand in Russia.

On the other hand, Yakupov has looked to me like the second coming of Theo Fleury, a lightning fast, tough, feisty attacker.

Murray? Well, he’s clearly a fine young player, but there’s also more risk in taking a d-man, as it’s simply harder to identify elite talent at the major junior level that will translate into a top NHL d-man. Is Murray Ryan McDonagh or Thomas Hickey? Is he Cam Barker or Drew Doughty?

It’s simply harder to sort out the stars from the duds when you’re rating 17-year-old d-men as oppposed to rating 17-year-old forwards.

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